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5 reasons not to miss Blockbuster stores (poll)

Dish Blockbuster Stor_Hask.jpg

This March 17, 2010, file photo, shows a closing Blockbuster stores in Racine, Wis. Dish Network announced Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, it will close the remaining 300 Blockbuster locations scattered across the United States. Dish Network expects the stores to be closed by early January. Dish Network says about 2,800 people will lose their jobs. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Scott Anderson, File)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Ten days after Lou Reed died it's
difficult for me to mourn the demise of the Blockbuster video-rental chain.

Yesterday, Dish Network, which purchased a bankrupt Blockbuster in 2010, announced
it will close the remaining 300 Blockbuster stores - down from a Roman
Empire-esque 9,000 or so about a decade ago - as well as the
Netflix-inspired Blockbuster By Mail venture. The video streaming services Blockbuster
On Demand and Blockbuster @Home will remain operational, as will 50 or so Blockbuster stores not owned by Dish Network.

But other than the news 3,000
folks working at Blockbuster stores would be out of a job, which of course is
horrible, the shutterings couldn't have seemed more anticlimactic. The most
shocking revelation was that 300 Blockbuster stores still exist. It's kind of like when you're watching an NBA telecast
and spot a long-faded star at the end of one team's bench, causing you to
mumble something like, "Whoa. Juwan Howard's still in the league?"

Many Alabamians probably assumed all Blockbuster stores were already long gone.
There's not a Blockbuster store currently open in Birmingham, Huntsville or
Mobile, according to the store locator function on blockbuster.com.

Of course, technology, such as digital streaming and downloads, and better
business models, from the likes of Netflix and TV-on-demand services (and, in terms
of pricing, even Redbox kiosks), made brick-and-mortar video stores like
Blockbuster literally obsolete.

This is in complete contrast to the aforementioned Reed. The prickly, visionary
singer and songwriter recorded music with his underground-rock band Velvet Underground more than 45 years ago that still sounds daring and present enough to have been
released today. If you didn't know better, you might think "I'm Waiting for the
Man" was a brilliant debut single by some new band of Brooklyn, N.Y. 20-somethings, and not a song VU dropped in 1967.

Nineties pop culture is blazing
hot right now. But let's save our affection for things from the decade that
actually deserve to be caressed through nostalgia's soft-focus lens: Nirvana,
"Pulp Fiction," TLC, "Seinfeld," Super Nintendo, sun dresses and the Chicago
Bulls. Turkeys like the compact disc and Blockbuster should be
allowed to fade into the mists of time.

Here are the top five things I
won't miss about Blockbuster stores.

1. The new release blues: Yes, a
Blockbuster store was sure to have 12 copies of "Die Hard with a Vengence" but
if you wanted to rent more intelligent and/or edgier fare, like, say "Rushmore"
or "The Hard Eight," there was usually just a couple copies or maybe even only
one in stock. Which inevitably led to you not being able to rent said film because
it had been already checked out. Which
leads us to number two on this list...

2. Opportunity cost: Minutes
wasted in Blockbuster looking for something decent to watch, particularly when the
movies you were interested in watching were already rented-out, felt like
hours. Or even months. But you kept trudging past the new releases shelves any
way ("Maybe there's a chance 'Suburban Commando' reveals Hulk Hogan and
Christopher Lloyd to be a transcendent comedy duo ...") and even the musty, older
titles in the drama and comedy sections ... Because you didn't want to have made
the drive to and from Blockbuster and then come home with nothing. And scrounging through the row of un-alphabetized, recently
returned movies on the counter had slightly more appeal than dumpster diving
and more often than not, that copy of "Run Lola Run" wasn't in there anyway. But
hey, on the bright side, someone just brought back "Waterworld."

3. Everybody knows this nowhere:
While I do have some fun memories of being in Blockbuster
stores (as you probably do too), they're memorable entirely because of the people I was with and the
things that transpired during that encounter. The physical Blockbuster stores
themselves had nothing to do with it.
It's not like customers were ever dazzled by that NAPA Auto Parts-ish blue-and-yellow color scheme, harsh lighting, $3 packages of M&Ms or the bins
of cheaply framed Marilyn Monroe and James Dean posters.

Perusing movies at a Blockbuster
store felt like no more of an experience than shopping for shampoo at Walgreens.
And I like movies a lot more than shampoo. Record stores are another
entertainment retail model that's hovered around extinction for years but music
fans actually care about saving record stores because of the "cool vibe" and
"sense of community" in those establishments. Movie fans never cared about
saving Blockbuster stores because the phrases "cool vibe" and "sense of
community" have never been used to describe a Blockbuster store.

4. Socially awkward:
Although some Blockbuster stores boasted sizable square footage, many of them,
even in larger markets, were relatively small spaces and when combined with the
narrow aisles between the shelves of VHS and later DVDs to rent, it made for
some awkward social situations. Like browsing the drama films section only to bump
into an ex with their new love interest on their arms and your current honey on
yours. Or seeing a co-worker you share a cubicle with bring "9 ½ Weeks" to the counter to rent.

5. Late fees and charging $5 per
rental: Clearly, this one needs no explanation. The universe has already spoken.

So, AL.com readers, will you miss Blockbuster stores? Take our poll below and in the comments section leave reasons you will - or reasons you won't - miss the one-time video-rental giant.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/7544445/"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How do you feel about the remaining Blockbuster stores closing?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;